The steep decline of Dutch clubs in European competitions: Can the Eredivisie maintain its status as the "sixth league"?

Written by Han Bing Before this season began, the Eredivisie held the 6th position in Europe for UEFA competition points, yet by the conclusion of the group stages across Europe’s three major cups, Dutch teams were almost completely eliminated. Out of six participating clubs, five were knocked out: Ajax and PSV were ousted from the Champions League; Feyenoord, AZ Alkmaar, and Utrecht exited the Europa League. The sole survivor, AZ Alkmaar, was ranked only 14th in the Europa Conference League and faced additional playoff matches.

Europe has 14 leagues with more teams advancing than the Eredivisie. Not only has the Eredivisie fallen far behind the Big Five leagues, but it also lags behind its main rival for the sixth spot, the Portuguese Primeira Liga (which advanced four teams), and even leagues like Greece (4 teams), Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland (3 teams), Belgium, Croatia, Norway, and Cyprus (2 teams each). This season, the Eredivisie earned only 8.645 UEFA points, ranking 13th, meaning only AZ Alkmaar has a chance to continue in European competitions, while the league’s future points growth will significantly trail these other leagues.

Based on current UEFA points, next season the Eredivisie will drop at least to 8th place, trailing the 6th-ranked Portuguese league by 8.254 points and the 7th-ranked Belgian league by 6.854 points. Competitors like the Turkish Süper Lig, Czech First League (3 teams advancing), and Greek Super League (4 teams advancing) have more teams and better chances to earn points, narrowing the gap with the Eredivisie. Previously, the Eredivisie’s lowest UEFA league ranking was 10th, but next season it is likely to fall below that threshold.

The last time no Eredivisie team qualified for the knockout stages of either the Champions League or Europa League was eight years ago in the 2017/18 season. At that time, five Dutch teams participated; Ajax competed in both Champions League and Europa League qualifiers but was eliminated, and PSV, Utrecht also fell in Europa League qualifiers. Feyenoord (Champions League) and Vitesse (Europa League) both finished bottom of their groups, marking one of the darkest European campaigns in Dutch football history.

In this season’s Champions League group stage, Eredivisie defending champions PSV once defeated Serie A champions Napoli 6-2 and thrashed Premier League champions Liverpool 4-1 away, but were eliminated after a 1-2 home loss to Bayern Munich in the final round. Last season’s runners-up Ajax started the Champions League with five straight losses, conceding 16 goals while scoring only one, ultimately finishing with 2 wins and 6 losses in 8 matches and getting knocked out. Feyenoord exited Champions League qualifiers and failed to progress in the Europa League; combined with AZ Alkmaar and Utrecht, the three Dutch teams in the Europa League won only 4 of 24 matches, with Utrecht drawing once and losing seven.

The sharp decline in Eredivisie’s European performance stems from many factors, primarily the growing economic gap between Dutch football and the Big Five leagues. The domestic broadcasting revenue for the Dutch professional leagues is only €150 million annually, covering Eredivisie, Eerste Divisie, KNVB Cup, and women’s Eredivisie combined. This amount is just one-sixth of Serie A’s, one-seventh of La Liga’s, one-eighth of Bundesliga’s, and one-thirteenth of the Premier League’s, with overseas broadcast rights gaps even wider. It is even less than the Portuguese Primeira Liga (€160 million/year) and Turkish Süper Lig (€168 million/year), ranking only 8th in Europe. On average, each Eredivisie club receives about €8 million per season from broadcasting, relying heavily on large European competition bonuses and selling promising players to sustain operations.

In the first half of this season, the Eredivisie recorded an average home attendance rate of 96%, the highest in nearly a decade. To boost the league’s economic vitality and scale, Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord have voluntarily shared 10% of their European competition revenues with smaller clubs, and Ajax has also sold a minority stake to raise cash.

With five teams eliminated early from European competitions, club revenues will be significantly impacted. The Eredivisie has previously discussed merging with the Belgian Pro League, but UEFA regulations prevent this from happening. The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf lamented that if Eredivisie clubs continue to underperform in Europe, they will fall into a vicious cycle of reduced prize money, selling key players, and declining results, causing them to fall further behind the Big Five leagues and even the Portuguese and Turkish leagues, making the glory of being the "sixth league" increasingly unattainable.